Murphy relishes Lions mission

Geordan Murphy could have been forgiven for kissing goodbye to any hopes of wearing the Lions full-back jersey in the Test series against New Zealand after watching Josh Lewsey produced a stunning man-ofthematch display in the Lions' victory over the Bay of Plenty.

Geordan Murphy could have been forgiven for kissing goodbye to any hopes of wearing the Lions full-back jersey in the Test series against New Zealand after watching Josh Lewsey produced a stunning man-ofthematch display in the Lions' victory over the Bay of Plenty.

But not a bit of it. The Irishman is relishing the challenge and has vowed to respond by raising the bar even higher against Taranaki tomorrow.

"I always love challenges and for me personally I'd love to be playing in a Lions Test shirt, preferable at 15," said Murphy.

"So for me it was great that Josh played so well against the Bay. I thought his performance was fantastic.

"He was unblemished, he scored a couple of tries and laid one on (for Gordon D'Arcy) when he could have got a hat-trick, which was very unselfish of him.

"If players like Josh set the bar so high for the rest of the guys then that will raise our game."

The side will be captained by Murphy's Leicester team-mate Martin Corry and there will be five Tigers players in the Lions starting XV with Murphy flanked by Irish wingers Denis Hickie and Shane Horgan.

"Cozza brings honesty to his captaincy. He is direct and will have a big say this week," said Murphy. "It makes things a little bit easier having an all Irish back three and we should gel immediately having played a few Tests together already," he said.

"I suppose I'm onto a winner with so many Irish and Leicester players in the team, but I'm excited about playing with the guys I haven't played with before."